New data provided by the Florida Department of Education illustrates that individuals who participate in school music experiences achieve higher academic success in the classroom and higher scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). The new data provides a clearer more comprehensive report of the influence of K-12 music education experiences in the overall academic success of Florida public school students than any data previously examined.

The data also shows that participation in school music education activities can benefit ALL students, not just the “talented” few, thereby contributing to the future of all Floridians. No other aspect of the school curriculum provides a cultural diverse experience while stimulating the cognitive processes involved in preparing students to achieve higher levels of academic achievement than school music education programs.

The acronym STEM—shorthand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—has quickly taken hold in education policy circles, but some experts in the arts community and beyond suggest it may be missing another initial to make the combination more powerful. The idea? Move from STEM to STEAM, with an A for the arts.

Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation (NSF), are helping to fuel work in those areas. The NSF has provided research grants and underwritten a number of conferences and workshops around the nation this year, including a forum hosted by the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, titled “Bridging STEM to STEAM: Developing New Frameworks for Art-Science-Design Pedagogy.”

Edited from "STEAM: Experts Make Case for Adding Arts to STEM" , from Education Week By Erik W. Robelen

Arts Education Committee

This advisory committee of the Broward Cultural Council identifies community needs related to arts education. There are representatives from the School Board of Broward County, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Children's Services Council of Broward County, Florida, Nova Southeastern University, educators, arts and cultural professionals and organizations. New members sign up in January.

WHO MAY APPLY: An individual artist or community-based educator living within Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach, or Martin County who has conducted an arts educational, community arts, and/or community design project in the year immediately preceding the date of application, and who is collaborating with one (1) or more eligible entities (non-school, Broward County- based public entities and non-profit organizations).; and/or The School Board of Broward County, Florida, or the Broward Education Foundation, Inc., or another agency(ies) recommended by the Broward Cultural Council.

REQUEST/AWARD SIZE: Non-School Board applicants may request no less than the minimum award of $2,000 and no more than the maximum award of $7,000.

Visit the Broward Cultural Division website for continued updates on this new incentive program.

2012 Broward County Arts Teacher of the YearApplication Deadline Extended!

The NEW deadline to apply for Broward County's 2012 Arts Teacher of the Year is Friday, March 2, 2012, at 5:00 p.m. Broward County public and charter school principals and teachers are invited to nominate arts teachers for this honor. Arts teachers may submit applications.

For 26 years the Arts Teacher of the Year Program has showcased the artistic excellence of students and faculty in Broward County schools, by honoring one outstanding arts teacher each year for his/her contribution and dedication to arts in the classroom. The recipient's success is celebrated during a ceremony at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in the fall. They receive a check for $2,500, a scholarship contribution by Nova Southeastern University, a Tiffany crystal apple, an assortment of gifts from arts organizations and businesses, an inscribed brick on Riverwalk and a $500 contribution to the arts department at their school.

"This award celebrates the important work of arts educators, and the magical impact of arts education in our schools," says Mary A. Becht, Director, Broward Cultural Division. "One outstanding teacher is selected each year to represent the teaching excellence that exists in the school system."

For more information contact Grace Kewl-Durfey at 954-357-7869; or visit the Broward Cultural Division website for the application form and further details.

Arts Teacher of the Year 2012 Schedule

Applications Open: Thursday, September 1, 2011Application Deadline: Friday, March 2, 2012Application Review: Monday, March 5 through Friday, March 16Scoring: Monday, March 19 through Friday, April 6Classroom Visits: Monday, April 9 – Friday, May 31Announcement of Finalists: August, at the Annual Arts Integration ConferenceAnnouncement of Winner: October – date tbd

Networking with the Arts Education CommitteeProfile: Sharon Brooks

Sharon Brooks combines her passion for education and her love of the arts as Director of Education for the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. She retired from the Broward County School system with 33 years of service including 18 years as a music and fine arts teacher. In 1991 she was selected by the school district to develop and implement a new Arts in Education program. She served as the coordinator of the nationally award-winning, Student Enrichment in the Arts (SEAS) Program, which brought more than 2 million school children to the Broward Center to attend special professional performances with strong educational content that integrated learning tools into the classroom curriculum. The SEAS program has received two national awards: The Magna 2001 Award from the American School Board Journal and the National Award from the John F. Kennedy Center Alliance for the Arts Educational Network and National School Board Association.

Brooks has been recognized as Broward County Arts Teacher of the Year; Woman of the Year in Fine Arts by Women in Communications; Outstanding Elementary Teacher of America; and was a recipient of a Fullbright Scholar’s Teacher Exchange Award. She is a graduate of Duquesne University where she attended on full scholarship.

She is the co-founder of the Arts for the Future Scholarship Program, the largest arts scholarship program in the State of Florida. More than $750,000 in scholarship funding has been raised to date, which has enabled more than 700 students to continue their visual, technical and performing arts Post-Secondary Education.

Her past professional performance career includes soloist with the St. Louis Ballet, St. Louis Municipal Opera and Broadway Road productions. She has served as Artistic Director and Choreographer for “Young Peoples Concerts and the YOUTH Symphony Dancers sponsored by Broward Community College. Married to Maestro James Brooks-Bruzzese, Artistic Director of the Symphony of the Americas, Brooks enjoys traveling with her husband as he conducts major symphony orchestras and festivals throughout the world. They have one daughter, Denyse, who has also had an active career in dance both on the national and international scene. She also enjoys spending special time with her two grandsons Austin and Christian.

"I am proud to have been a member of the Arts in Education Committee for the past 20 years. During this time I have had the opportunity to participate in the cultural growth of our students in Broward County. The focus and support of the Cultural Division for Arts in Education has allowed the committee to actively support teachers, artists, arts organizations and millions of students to appreciate and learn through the arts."

Build awareness of arts education as essential skill-development for students and valid career path

In the first year, symposium keynotes were given by school principals who told the story of arts integration at their schools, and inspired and challenged attendees. In the second year, superintendents, school board members and central administration keynotes gave a broader perspective of arts education for the district. This year, Carol Ponder, a Kennedy Center Teaching Artist, will be the keynote speaker and provide two workshops. Ponder is an actor, folk-singer and storyteller and she comes to Miami at the beginning of her residency at the Hermitage Artists Retreat. Participants will have an opportunity to not only hear her keynote remarks - which she promises will be an active session - but to participate in smaller workshops with her.

The South Florida Cultural Consortium selected Arts for Learning (A4L) to design and develop a Teaching Artist Certification Program. A4L envisions the creation of a three-part program that capitalizes on the skills and expertise of current master teaching artists and develops a point of entry for artists that are new to the field. The strategy behind this approach is to develop a model that sets a standard while also possessing the flexibility required for adapting to ongoing growth in the field. It aims to meet artists at every level (masters and novices alike), further professionalize the teaching artist field, and meet the needs of education and outreach providers. The three components are: Certification, Endorsement and Entrepreneurship.

A4L will begin its work in early 2012 by conducting a qualitative assessment that inventories, narrates, and evaluates local, regional, and national teaching artist professional development programs and opportunities. To conduct this assessment, Arts for Learning's Director of Artist Services, with support from the Executive Director, will begin national-level research by identifying exemplary programs across the country.

Arts for Learning will identify local, regional, and national stakeholders. From this pool, A4L will select a sample to interview and a subset to invite to a regional focus group. These stakeholders will include artists, educators, universities, and government entities that work with or contract artists, cultural organizations, and funders who support the arts and education. Focus groups will occur in South Florida. The first component of the program should be ready to pilot in the fall of 2012.

"Since its inception in 2000, Arts for Learning has served more than 100,000 children and youth. It has done this by hiring and supporting hundreds of exceptional teaching artists to deliver quality programming. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work on a regional scale with the South Florida Cultural Consortium. I expect that our work with them will greatly contribute to the national teaching artist field." - Sheila Womble, Executive Director, Arts for Learning.

The South Florida Cultural Consortium, an alliance of the local arts agencies of Martin, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, assists visual and media artists through cash awards solely on the basis of creative excellence to foster artistic development and encourage career advancement. Formed in 1985, the Consortium operates under an inter-local government agreement to coordinate projects and share resources for the growth of South Florida cultural activities, organizations and artists. It provides regional cultural planning, new project development, statewide cultural marketing, information sharing, regional arts education training and support for ethnic and rural audience development.

JazzSLAM supports teachers' efforts to raise student FCAT and other standardized test scores by teaching academics through the Aural, Visual, & Tactile (multiple intelligence) benefits of music. Students participate in a "Rhythm Orchestra" and come to new understandingsof fractions and percentages through subdivisions of a whole (note) as they clap, stomp, sing and dance with a live, intergenerational, multicultural jazz quartet. JazzSLAM students soar out of their everyday world into a swinging world of pulsating rhythms and melodies.

From simple field hollers to 12 bar blues, JazzSLAM helps students understand the magical mysteries of the structures of songs, melodic, contours, poetry/word families in lyrics, and parallel essay writing, forms. This program is presented for free to the schools/students - targeting Title One schools in particular.

Jazz Scholarships are also Available, through the Jeanette M. Russell Jazz Scholarship Fund and Competition.

� Scholarships available for qualified students who are Florida residents� Summer Music Camps Scholarships (Grades 6 - 11)� College Scholarships for Graduating High School Seniors studying musicwith jazz emphasis� College Scholarships for college music majors with jazz emphasis

Gold Coast Jazz Society was organized in 1992 by founder, Fred Ruffner, and a group of avid jazz buffs from South Florida, and currently presents concerts at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

The mission of the Gold Coast Jazz Society is to perpetuate and advancethe cultural art form of jazz through performances, education and outreach activities